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      A Bookmark Illustrated by Van Gogh Has Been Discovered After 135 Years

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      Art
      History

      #art history
      #drawing

      June 29, 2021
      Grace Ebert

      Detail of “Strip with three sketches” of a Woman Walking, Viewed from the Back, a Sitting Man (en face) and a Sitting Woman (en profil), before June 1883, graphite on paper, 28 x 5 centimeters. Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, purchased with support from the Bank Giro Loterij
      In 2021, it’s rare to stumble upon a work by Vincent van Gogh that hasn’t been previously identified, but researchers recently uncovered a few early drawings slipped inside one of the Dutch artist’s books. Now on view as part of Here to Stay at the Van Gogh Museum, the newly discovered bookmark has been hidden for about 135 years and dates back to autumn 1881, when the artist was in his late 20s and living in his parents’ village of Etten.
      Depicting three single figures in a vertical line, the pencil sketches were found inside the artist’s copy of Histoire d’un Paysan, an illustrated novel by Emile Erckmann and Alexandre Chatrian that details the French Revolution from the perspective of a peasant in Alsace. Van Gogh mailed the book, which he first inscribed with his name, to his friend and fellow artist Anthon van Rappard in 1883, saying “I do think you’ll find the Erckmann-Chatrian beautiful.”
      Van Rappard sat for a drawn portrait with van Gogh not long after receiving the novel, which was held by the family of van Rappard’s wife until the Van Gogh Museum purchased it in 2019. Despite their friendship, the pair had a falling out in 1885 after van Rappard criticized the lithograph “The Potato Eaters” (1885).
      The discovery will be on view alongside artifacts and other artworks acquired by the Amsterdam museum in the last decade through September 12. (via Artnet)

      “Strip with three sketches” of a Woman Walking, Viewed from the Back, a Sitting Man (en face) and a Sitting Woman (en profil), before June 1883, graphite on paper, 28 x 5 centimeters. Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, purchased with support from the Bank Giro Loterij
      Detail of “Strip with three sketches” of a Woman Walking, Viewed from the Back, a Sitting Man (en face) and a Sitting Woman (en profil), before June 1883, graphite on paper, 28 x 5 centimeters. Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, purchased with support from the Bank Giro Loterij

      #art history
      #drawing

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      A Trio of Colorful Characters Expand Jean Jullien’s Installation in a Nantes Botanical Garden

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      Art
      Illustration

      #installation
      #public art

      June 29, 2021
      Grace Ebert

      All images © Jean Jullien, shared with permission
      Three new faces join the quirky cast of characters at Nantes’s Jardin des Plantes. Part of artist Jean Jullien’s Filili Viridi project that’ll be on view through November, the colorful trio is spotted reclining in the grass, perched in a tree, and plunged in a small reservoir. Joyful and slightly mischievous, the new additions, which are made of painted steel, join six others that have been hanging out in the botanical garden since last summer. See more of Jullien’s illustrated ensembles on Instagram, and pick up a poster in his shop.

      #installation
      #public art

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    • 175 Shares199 Views

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      Using Long Continuous Strokes, Thomas Yang’s New Print is a Zen Meditation on Cycling

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      Art
      Design

      #bicycles
      #ink
      #posters and prints

      June 28, 2021
      Grace Ebert

      All images © Thomas Yang, shared with permission
      In his new print “Journey to Zen,” artist Thomas Yang (previously) focuses on the mental benefits of his favorite pastime. The Singapore-based artist is behind 100 Copies, an ongoing print project in which he releases limited-edition works centered around his love of cycling—previous iterations include architectural renderings inked with bike tires and a competitive peloton of riders.
      “Journey to Zen” renders a lone cyclist in a manner similar to a Japanese sand garden, using long, uninterrupted strokes of black ink. “To simulate that particular style with continuous lines or samon (砂紋) in the gravel, I had decided to use a rake paintbrush as part of the tool. To familiarise (myself) with the brush, it took me quite a while to practice on the strokes and shades, especially for those curvy ones,” the artist shares. Once complete, Yang digitally enhanced the brushtrokes and printed the piece on textured paper to deepen the stone-like effect.
      Born out of a period of uncertainty, the fluid and composed lines represent the meditative qualities of the sport and its ability to serve as an outlet for stress and anxiety. “Sometimes, taking our bike out for a ride brings us on an inward journey,” Yang says. “Almost like a form of Zen meditation, the noise fades, our mind clears, and all we are focused on is the path before us. The longer and farther we go, the more we learn about ourselves and the nature of our mind.”
      There are still a few “Journey to Zen” prints available on 100 Copies, where you can find more of Yang’s available works.

      #bicycles
      #ink
      #posters and prints

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      Glitches Distort Household Objects and Art Historical Figures in Sculptures by Jeremiah Hulsebos-Spofford

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      Art

      #art history
      #sculpture

      June 25, 2021
      Grace Ebert

      “Garden Gipsoteca: Hercules” (2019), marble, resin, pigment, urethane foam, steel, abd wood, 84 x 36 x 24 inches. All images © Jeremiah Hulsebos-Spofford, shared with permission
      Artist Jeremiah Hulsebos-Spofford reenvisions classical sculptures as chaotic, glitched assemblages that piece together fragmented bits of the original work. His interpretation of “Hercules” is teeming with textured pockets of the figure’s beard and facial features that become increasingly smaller and indiscernible toward the base, while “Venus” is reimagined in a similarly disjointed fashion with fractured body parts forming an upward curve.
      Although many of his works evoke ancient art history, Hulsebos-Spofford’s pieces are rooted in modernist aesthetics and understandings of functionality, which manifest more apparently in his oversized Moka pot and Mr. Coffee sculptures. Each piece alters the traditional forms with an implied digital malfunction, which a statement about the works explains:
      Inspired by the history of the 1927 architectural competition in Geneva, which asked architects to submit plans for the creation of the Palace of Nations, Hulsebos-Spofford points to the unsettled quandaries and contradictions between classical design and modernist functionalism. Repeating classical sculptural figures remind us of copy-and-paste multiple errors that reference the history of the gipsoteca galleries…Behind all of these references, we are presented with a global constellation of history and technological decay.
      If you’re in Chicago, you can see the works shown here as part of League of Nations, which is on view between June 2 and August 29 at the Chicago Cultural Center. Find more of Hulsebos-Spofford’s sculptures on his site and Instagram, where he also shares glimpses into his process.

      “Hyperlexia: Venus” (2021), marble, resin, foam, and fiberglass, 40 x 30 x 24 inches
      “Mr. Coffee” (2019), sand blasting sand, resin, urethane foam, steel, hardware, and wood, 68 x 48 x 24 inches
      Detail of “Garden Gipsoteca: Hercules” (2019), marble, resin, pigment, urethane foam, steel, abd wood, 84 x 36 x 24 inches
      “Hyperlexia: Moka” (2020), aluminum, resin, foam, and fiberglass, 41 x 40 x 14 inches
      “Hyperlexia: Solicitude” (2021), foam, pigment, and wood, 48 x 36 x 36 inches

      #art history
      #sculpture

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      Dense Fields of Flowers Spring from People and Everyday Objects in Animated Works by Grif

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      Animation
      Art

      #flowers
      #gifs
      #mutiples

      June 24, 2021
      Grace Ebert

      Fields of vibrant flowers spring from a Brooklyn brownstone, basketball court, and Vermeer’s “Girl with Pearl Earring” in Equinox Collection by Grif. The Manhattan-based artist is working on an ongoing series of animations that transform objects and spaces into wild gardens in full bloom. The looping clips are designed to “illustrate how nature’s energy will continue to evolve, reclaim, and transfer even without us,” Grif says. “The concept of transferring energy is one that is constantly in motion. Energy is constantly being transformed all around us. It’s the first rule of thermodynamics.”
      Whether enveloping a Berlin doorstep or producing a trail of flowers in a skateboarder’s wake, each piece is a mini-narrative that’s rooted in a place, time, or experience the artist wanted to revisit. “I chose scenes from my memory and slightly changed the surroundings to embed a sense of nostalgia for the audience, a sort of golden light that elicits this feeling of optimism. We often look back quite fondly on memories, they’re rose-tinted or sugar-coated or whichever metaphor you like,” Grif says.
      Some of the works shown here were featured last month for Callao City Arts in Madrid, and others will be on view as part of an exhibition led by Collab in Moscow. You can follow the ongoing collection on Behance and Instagram.

      #flowers
      #gifs
      #mutiples

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      Infinite Architectural Metropolises Balance Order and Chaos in Benjamin Sack’s Drawings

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      Art

      #architecture
      #drawing
      #labyrinth
      #mazes
      #surreal

      June 23, 2021
      Grace Ebert

      “Boxed In.” All images © Benjamin Sack, shared with permission
      In Benjamin Sack’s imagined environments, it’s not uncommon to find angular mazes resembling dystopian structures, buildings packed so closely together it’s difficult to distinguish one from the next, and labyrinthine walkways that spiral like fractals. Working in pen and ink, the artist (previously) draws intricate black-and-white metropolises that waver between organization and chaos: He plays with geometry, angles, and dimension to render perplexing maps teeming with both traditional architecture and surreal additions, like treble clefs, astral shapes, and dizzying line- and dot-work.
      While many of Sack’s works meld the past, present, and future into a single display, his recent feet-wide maze titled “Roots of Being (Per Aspera ad Astra)” is directly drawn from this last year.  “This piece was a massive, Daedalian undertaking that was started at the outset of the initial lockdowns back in March 2020 and finished upon my receiving the first dose of the vaccine in April,” the artist tells Colossal. “A large labyrinth emblematic of the epoch we persevered.”
      Watch the timelapse video below and head to Instagram for a glimpse into Sack’s process, and pick up a print in his shop.

      “Tokyo, Japan”
      “Roots of Being (Per Aspera ad Astra)”
      Detail of “Roots of Being (Per Aspera ad Astra)”
      “Manhattanesque”
      Detail of “Leitmotif”
      “Endurance”
      “Acoustaglyph”
      “A Sensitive Chaos”
      “Leitmotif”
      

      #architecture
      #drawing
      #labyrinth
      #mazes
      #surreal

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      Whimsical Illustrations and Motifs Dyed with a Traditional Wax-Resist Method Cover Caroline Södergren’s Eggshells

      by

      
      Art
      Craft
      Illustration

      #animals
      #eggs
      #insects
      #wax

      June 22, 2021
      Grace Ebert

      All images © Caroline Södergren, shared with permission
      Formally trained in glassblowing, Stockholm-based artist Caroline Södergren transfers her experience working with a delicate, fragile material to an ornately illustrated collection of eggshells. She adapts the traditional Ukrainian craft called pysanky, a wax-resist method that involves drawing a design on a clean, empty chicken, turkey, goose, or ostrich egg with hot beeswax. The shell is then dipped in multiple baths of dye and the seal washed away with oil to reveal the colorful, layered design—you can watch the entire process in the video below.
      The technique often is combined with folk art, although Södergren illustrates her own botanical motifs, beetles, and mythical creatures that stray from traditional designs. “You have to think before you start a pattern as the different color layers must come in the right order,” she says. “If you make a mistake with the wax, it is not possible to change, and a written line is where it is. A constant challenge that makes it so fun to work with!”
      Konsthantverkets Vänner, an organization dedicated to supporting Swedish arts and crafts, just awarded Södergren a scholarship for her batik designs. Browse available eggs in her shop, and find a larger collection on Instagram. (via Lustik)

      

      #animals
      #eggs
      #insects
      #wax

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      Future Returns: A Plasma-Cut Forest Reclaims an Oil Tanker in a New Sculpture by Dan Rawlings

      by

      
      Art

      #cars
      #churches
      #oil
      #sculpture
      #trees

      June 21, 2021
      Christopher Jobson

      “Future Returns” by Dan Rawlins. All photos by Mark Bickerdike, shared with permission.
      In perhaps the not so distant future, sculptor Dan Rawlings (previously) imagines a world where machinery from the unsustainable energy industry is now a relic of the past, slowly overtaken by nature in a state of decomposition. In his latest sculpture titled Future Returns, the artist uses his trademark plasma cutting style to etch a sizeable canopy of foliage that emerges from the steel shell of a reclaimed oil tanker. The work is currently housed inside a 19th-century church in Scunthorpe in Lincolnshire, England. From a statement about the project:

      Future Returns invites us to examine our own part in commercialization and the resulting changes to our natural environment. Rawlings believes it is easy to demonize industry but we must acknowledge that it has allowed life as we know it to bloom. It is our ability to design, create and produce that has put towns like Scunthorpe on the global map. He also believes oil companies have much to answer for, from the state of our environment to mistrust of science.

      Future Returns will be on view through September 25, 2021 and you can book free viewing times on the Visual Arts Centre website. (via Creative Boom)

      #cars
      #churches
      #oil
      #sculpture
      #trees

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